Newtown swim club members exploring YMCA option

That’s the situation that might be developing in Newtown and Newtown Township around an idea to bring a YMCA into the area.

Members of the soon-to-be-closed Newtown Swim Club are exploring the creation of a YMCA facility as one possibility to replace the club. Owners David and Geraldine Platt have an agreement to sell the 16.77-acre property in Newtown Township to County Builders of Warminster, who would build 56 townhouses there if the developer gets final approval from the township supervisors.

The Platts are selling to County Builders because David Platt has skin cancer and needed to provide for the financial future of his family, they have said. Efforts to find a buyer who would continue operation of the swim club were unsuccessful, the Platts have said.

So, swim club members have been meeting to discuss various options, including buying or finding a buyer for the swim club, seeing if Newtown Township would consider building its own swim complex — possibly in cooperation with the borough — or attracting a Y to the Newtown area.

The most promising prospect seems to be the YMCA idea, said swim club member Mary Beth Dillione.

However, if that effort progresses, Newtown Athletic Club owner Jim Worthington said he will fight it hard, just as he did in the early 2000s when the idea for a Newtown YMCA was pushed briefly but then dropped, mainly because of opposition from Worthington and other private business owners in the area.

The athletic club is located less than a mile from the swim club.

Worthington and his allies said nonprofit YMCAs located near private athletic clubs create unfair competition because the Ys don’t have to pay property taxes to school districts, counties and municipalities.

But Newtown Swim Club members, who have been holding informal meetings at Borough Hall in Newtown with the help of councilman Robert King, think it’s an option worth pursuing. There is already a small YMCA at the Chandler Hall Retirement Community in Newtown Township that is open to the general public and includes a fitness center and small indoor pool. The pool is available for use by both YMCA members and Chandler Hall residents, YMCA officials said.

The YMCA members also can use a larger indoor pool at Bucks County Community College, they said.

“The focus of this group now seems to be oriented towards creating a YMCA in the Newtown area,” said Dillione in written notes from the latest swim club members’ meeting.

“It could be our goal to expand it (Chandler Hall YMCA),” she continued. “This would take a steering committee of 8-12 people with various strengths and backgrounds. Most importantly this goal needs community support and money.”

Worthington, owner of the 12,000-member NAC in Newtown Township, said he would fight a Newtown area YMCA every step of the way.

“I would have plenty of objections to that,” he said. “It’s a problem all over the country, YMCAs going into high-income areas and operating at such a great tax advantage. They absolutely kill private business and private job creation. I pay about $200,000 a year in property taxes to the Council Rock School District alone, and for someone to come in who doesn’t pay any of those things and compete against me, it’s unfair. It’s a sham.”

Worthington continued: “If an LA Fitness or something like that moved in, something that would compete under the same conditions as me, on a level playing field, then great, game on. But for a YMCA to move in and undercut me and other private business owners, that hurts every recreational business in the area.”

Dillione said two officials from the Central Bucks YMCA in Doylestown, CEO Zane Moore and Facilities Manager Charles Kwiatkowski, attended the last swim club members meeting to answer questions about possibly bringing a Y into the Newtown area.

“The only thing I can tell you at this point is I’m attending as a community member,” said Moore, a Newtown resident, when contacted by the newspaper. “I’m happy to assist them in research however I can.”

Moore declined to respond to Worthington’s comments.

Tom Swanciger, acting CEO of the Lower Bucks Family YMCA in Bristol Township, also had no direct comment about Worthington’s remarks.

“We’re always willing to help out and impact a community in a positive manner,” said Swanciger. “Newtown is a big area and if a Y is what they want, we would be happy to help them pursue something.”

King said his role has been that of a facilitator trying to help swim club members — many of whom live in the borough — find a solution, He believes the NAC and a YMCA could coexist in the same area.

“Jim (Worthington) has quite a setup out there but it’s very upscale and I don’t know that it serves all the people in the Newtown area,” said King. “There are some people who just can’t afford to go there. I don’t think a YMCA would be in direct competition with the NAC. I think you’re looking at two different demographics.”

Worthington said he feels he’s done much more over the years to serve the surrounding community and contribute to charities than area YMCAs have done. He said the NAC often gives discounted memberships to people who qualify.

“We’ve given out hundreds of thousands in free goods and services,” Worthington said.

“Right now it’s very difficult to say what the most viable option is,” said Newtown Swim Club member Adrienne DiGiovine, who said she still uses the fitness facilities at the club but not the pools.

“Our most optimistic approach could be to get the Y involved and use their guidance and skills and personnel to help us do something to replace the swim club,” she continued. “I don’t think the township and borough have the funds to invest in this kind of project.”

DiGiovine also declined to comment on Worthington’s claims.

“We enjoy the activities that go on at the Newtown Swim Club,” she said. “There’s a lot of camaraderie between the kids. It’s a shame to think it won’t be there anymore and there won’t be any venue for that kind of activity and interaction. We are a group of concerned individuals looking for recreational options in Newtown. At this point, we are having a conversation. We have no comment regarding Mr. Worthington at this time.”

Swim Club members said they might contact Mike Meister, president of County Builders, to see if he would be willing to build a YMCA instead of the townhouses. The newspaper was unsuccessful in attempts to reach Meister or John VanLuvanee, his attorney on the swim club project, for comment.

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